White Shadows
by Woonacat
Summary: A young painter from Florence is taken under the famous inventor, Leonardo da Vinci's wing as an apprentice. However, when she meets his good friend, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, she feels a certain tug towards him. Romance between my friend's OC and Ezio, derr. I'm horrible at summaries.


White Shadows

By Whitney

Dedicated to Ivy

Chapter 1

It was early in the morning in the Italian city of Florence. The citizens were starting to get up,, and those who had already were opening their shops and stalls to begin their day. It was a happy start to the morning, the sun was shining, businesses were blooming, and people were waving as they walked down the street. Guards patrolled the city casually, giving courteous nods to the people and other guards as they walked by. However, not _all_ was peaceful.

As the sun rose up into the sky, it beamed through the windows of the houses. One of these houses was perfectly aligned so the first ray of sunlight would come through the window. As it rose up through the rooms inside, there was a scream.

'Nononononono I cannot be late today!" A young lady said as she raced down the stairs of the house she lived in, hazel eyes still sore from being awoken of the sun's rays. She snatched up a brush and quickly tug through the knots in her long brown hair. "Buon giorno madre." (Good morning mother) She greeted her mother, who simply scoffed, her blue eyes giving a stern look. "Ivy! Stai per essere in ritardo come l'ultima volta" (Ivy! You are going to be late like last time.) Ivy blushed, looking down. "I am sorry, mother. I will try to be early." She said, and gathered her work supplies. Her bag, which had a paint brush, a notepad, and some ink and quills. She said farewell and left to go outside.

Like she had heard from her room, the people of Venice were already working. Some waved at he as she rushed down the street, and she hastily waved back. She weaved between the crowd, and some of the guards gave her suspicious looks. "Sorry, sorry, excuse me!" She mumbled as she sped on. A familiar building came into view, and she sighed in relief as she realised the lights were not yet on. She continued at a sophisticated pace, and once she reached Leonardo da Vinci's workshop, she unlocked it with the key she had.

Inside it was quiet. Inventions lay scattered on tables, hanging from ceilings, covering almost the entire place. In the back were some shelves, completely full of books. Beside that were empty papers and by the book shelves was a billboard with drawings pinned to them. Crates of rolled up paper was scattered in the workshop. In the back was some artwork. Ivy put her bag down on a table, and took out her paintbrush. She looked around, and finally found the paint buckets. She looked around. The place was a mess. But Leonardo seemed fine with it. So she didn't bother to clean it.

A sound made her turn around. She smiled as she watched Leonardo da Vinci walk in, struggling to carry rolls of paper. "Let me help you." She said kindly, and took half the load.

"Grazie, Ivy." (Thank you, Ivy.) He put the papers in with the others in the crates, and Ivy did so too. "Have you been working on your proportions?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well..." Ivy bit her lip. When she had returned to her home she had only helped her mother around the house for a while, then went out for her own free time. She sighed. "Mi dispiace, Maestro da Vinci. Non ho pratica. Ma l'ho fatto esaminare..." (I am sorry, Master da Vinci. I did not practice. But I did examine..." She smiled. Leonardo rolled his eyes.

"You told me you would work on your proportions. Remember that picture you painted a while back? What did you call it?" He teased, already knowing the answer.

"Bubble headed. But that's beside the point, I've learned from that mistake!" She argued, but Leonardo was only laughing.

"It had the biggest head I had ever seen!" He said, trying to breathe between laughs. Ivy gave him an annoyed look. It took him a few minutes to recover, then he cleared his throught.

"But, honestly, Ivy. You need to practice." He went to the back, and came back with an easel and canvas, along with a palette. "Go outside. Find a good item. Paint the item." He shoved the easel, canvas, and palette in her hands. She took them.

"Alright, and when I'm done?" Ivy asked as she headed to the door.

"Paint some more!" He said as if it were obvious, rolling his eyes. "Practice makes perfect. Now go." He closed the door behind Ivy, who sighed. She turned around, almost bumping into someone.

"Oh, terribly sorry." She said, adjusting the easel. When she looked up, she saw the person was a boy. Not exactly a man yet, but he looked like one. He had dark, brown hair and hazel eyes, just like Ivy's. He had a scar over his lip. Ivy blushed, and he looked surprised for a while, but grinned.

"It's quite alright, miss..."

"Shadow. Ivy Shadow."

"Ah, miss Ivy Shadow. Pleased to meet you I am Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Are you the new apprentice of Leonardo's?" He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Ivy nodded.

"Yes. This is my 2nd week of work. Are you a friend of his?"

"Yes, actually. Is he in?"

"Oh, yes."

"Ah, good. Well I'll be seeing you, Miss Ivy." He said, and walked into the Workshop.

'_Well, I've never heard of Ezio Auditore before. I should ask Leonardo about him. Anyways..._' She adjusted her easel once more, and headed off. Where to, she didn't know. She looked around for good places to paint. She would have loved to paint crowds but Leonardo had not shown her how to deal with moving objects replacing others. So she looked around, and deciding to settle on a river moving through town.

As she painted, her canvas received curious looks, and sometimes approving nods from the guards or those from the upper class. Ivy didn't mind this, as she only focused on her painting. Before she realised it, the sun was high in the sky and she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking behind her, she saw Leonardo's face, giving a smirk as he examined her painting.

It wasn't that much done. She had managed to paint one half of the river, and some buildings. After Leonardo had given it a quick look, he looked at Ivy. "Good start on this. Don't forget the details, though. And most importantly," He hid a smile. "The proportions." Ivy groaned as Leonardo let out a few little laughs. "It's already mid-day, you can go for lunch. I'll be at the Workshop if you need me." And he walked away, leaving Ivy to be. Ivy sighed, packed up her easel, canvas, brush, and palette, and walked back to the Workshop. She left her things by the door inside, and went off to find a good restaurant to have her lunch at.

After a few minutes of walking, she made it to a rather popular restaurant, where it was bustling full of people, gossiping the daily news. Some people looked at Ivy as she entered the lush restaurant, muttering things about 'da Vinci's apprentice.' She blushed, and looked up as a waiter came into view.

"Miss Shadow, is it?" He asked. Ivy nodded. He gave a short bow. "I will be your waiter. Right this way." He led her to the back of the restaurant, into a table for two. Ivy sat down, napkin on her lap. The man gave him a menu, and Ivy smiled. "Thank you." She said, and with a bow, he left. She scanned through the menu, looking for any food that seemed appetizing. She found a nice looking salad, when she heard the bell from the top of the door ring, and a familiar voice.

"Yes, I'll seat myself, thank you." The voice said, and she heard footsteps. She looked up to see Ezio Auditore, scanning the restaurant for a place to sit. She caught his sight, and smiled, waving to him for him to come over. He walked over, a little strut in his walk. Ivy smirked and raised an eyebrow, an unamused look on her face. He only grinned and put his hands on his hips as he reached the table.

"Hello, Ivy. I wasn't expecting to see you here. I just came back from Leonardo's Workshop. There aren't any other free tables, though. So I guess I'll just be going somewhere else." He said, looking around in case he was mistaken. But all the tables were taken. Ivy waved her arm as if it were no big deal.

"Oh, don't do that! Restaurants are always crowded around this hour. Come, sit." Ivy gestured to the chair across from her. Ezio sat down, and the same waiter came by.

"And who's bill will this be on?" He asked as he handed Ezio a menu. Before Ivy could say anything, Ezio raised his hand. "Mine." He said. The waiter nodded, and walked away. Ivy gave Ezio a rather foul look. He shrugged.

"Hey, you can't expect me to pass up this hospitality in exchange for your generosity." He said. Ivy mumbled an agreement. "Now what do you want to eat?"

After their food had arrived, they had delved themselves into a lengthy conversation, and getting to know each other more. '_Hey.'_ Ivy thought whenever it felt odd to get to know someone she hadn't even heard of this quickly. '_He's my mentor's friend. Better get on good terms with him_.' So they enjoyed their talk about daily lives, interests, and even the latest news around town. After about an hour, a waiter came by and Ezio payed. Thanking him, they left to do their own things.

When Ivy got back to the Workshop, she couldn't help but smirk at what had just happened. Ezio was a pretty nice guy.


End file.
